There are some events in a calendar that really can’t (or shouldn’t) be ignored. If you miss it, it’ll never happen again, and in years to come you’ll be kicking yourself. This was true of the 1st anniversary bash for Manchester ADP on 29th August 2016, and despite suffering from an annoyingly painful throat, I wasn’t going to be stopped from attending!

​As usual, we were gathered at The Kings Arms, Salford to celebrate an incredible year. Lisa Connor, owner of The Kings Arms, very kindly laid on some free wine for us too, which went down a treat.

Pity that Lisa could not join in the fun however, but she is just about to give birth, so was taking some rest.

The bar staff of course were their usual friendly and devoted selves, looking after the throng of bodies, keeping us all well watered.

On the whole, I think we took over the entire building. Having set up tables in the bar for the bring-and-share buffet (a genius idea by the way), we quickly overflowed to the Snug and beer garden.

​Not only this, the seating had been removed from the theatreupstairs for some announcements, speeches and specialpresentations from ADP. I don’t know about anyone else,​but it felt rather eerie in the theatre with no seats, how odd it looked.

​ MC's Hannah Ellis and Diana Atkins

It’s All About The Numbers

Amongst the announcements, we learned that over the course of the year Manchester ADP has racked up some pretty amazing statistics:

18 shows, 57 new scripts, 35writers, 99 actors and 14directors

Not only this, but there were still 47 scripts waiting to be performed and a whopping 109 actors who have yet to appear on stage. Incredible.

​The Shape Of Things To Come

We were also privy to a sneaky little taster of ADP’s next development, simply going under the banner (or a working title) of:

ADP Audio

Marie Crook, a BBC director, has come on board with the project, and ADP has the support of Salford University's studios and students too. Not much in the way of detail as it’s still a work in progress, but this will be a ‘soft-launch’ programme, so keep your ears to the speaker to learn more in the coming months.

The Awards Ceremony Part 1 We saw some fun awards handed out to pay tribute to various members of ADP, for all sorts of reasons (please excuse if the titles aren't 100% accurate).

David Chriscole receiving an ADP award.(Image: Sophie Coward)

​Home-made brownies made by Hannah Ellis, and a certificate were handed out for these genuinely difficult to get but tongue in cheek awards.

Gracious thanks were also given to Tech Guru Andrew Glassford in his absence, for his hard work and dedication to Manchester ADP.

Awards Ceremony Part 2

No awards ceremony would be complete without some form of prize-giving, other than gorgeous brownies of course.

To mark the next set of awards Manchester ADP were sponsored by Casting Networks UK, who have very kindly given ‘pro’ subscriptions for their platform to each of the actors below. Many congratulations to everyone!

The night before our bash I decided that I’d try my hand at a little poetry to add to the 1st birthday card I was taking along. Well I’m certainly not going to win any awards for this, but it was fun having this read out to everyone. Here it is once again for those that missed it.

Just when I thought, the world was shiteAlong came three angels, and put me rightDiana flew from London's glitter, putting Manc-land in its place to shiverHannah comes from land down-under, she stops our meetings from making blunderLisa gives us room to breathe, why on earth would we want to leaveWithout these girls the friends we see, we'd probably never get to seeWe bow as-well to those that bring, the doors, the light AND Twitter!Unsung heroes also work, to bring delights unto our stageTo those unseen we give our thanks, and blessing on you alwaysSo now we stand and raise our glass, and here we do our cheeringONE YEAR TODAY! you've done the deed, and killed off any doubters

Night Off For Resident Photographer

Usually at Manchester ADP events, our resident photographer Mark Russell is to be seen lurking and snapping away, capturing some pretty awesome candid shots.

On this night however, Mark was given the night off, and the task of capturing the atmosphere fell to ADP’s very own Social Media butterfly, Sophie Coward.